Governor Rauner’s Amendatory Veto of SB1 Has a Number of Negative Consequences for Schools Across Illinois

While the Illinois Senate voted on Sunday to override the Governor's amendatory veto (AV) of SB1, the Evidence-Based Model for education funding reform, a new CTBA analysis has identified at least six aspects of the AV that would each threaten the ability of Illinois school districts to reach adequate funding to serve their students.

These deficiencies underscore the importance of passing SB1.

CTBA finds that Governor Rauner's AV would frustrate SB1's core purpose of creating an adequate and equitable education funding formula in a number of ways, including by weakening:

• SB1's "hold harmless" provision;
• SB1's protections against artificially inflated pressure on local resources through accounting of PTELL and TIF effects;
• SB1's accounting for inflation and regional cost differences; and
• SB1's accounting for pension cost shifts under Tier III.

The bottom line is that the provisions in the AV are fatally flawed. SB1 is the only path to an education funding formula that is based on the evidence of what works, identifies the needed funds, and equitably distributes those resources over time to school districts across Illinois.